Massa fastest in practice 1

While his Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen had to sit out most of the session with a gearbox issue, Massa led the way with a 1:27.323 lap, one tenth of a second ahead of McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen.

The Finn proved there were no lasting effects from his Barcelona crash by beating teammate Lewis Hamilton to second place.

The session got off to an extremely quiet start. Several large damp patches around the circuit - caused by late track cleaning rather than rain - dissuaded drivers from attempting flying laps and left the frustrated teams sitting in the pits waiting for the surface to dry as low track temperatures exacerbated the situation.

Forty minutes elapsed before Toro Rosso's Sebastien Bourdais finally broke the deadlock and put a laptime on the board, encouraging others to leave the garage and finally get the action underway.

Grip remained scarce even then, with the cold conditions making it difficult for drivers to generate sufficient temperature in the harder Bridgestones.

Kazuki Nakajima (Williams), Adrian Sutil (Force India), Jarno Trulli (Toyota), Massa and Hamilton all spun or went off the road in the slippery Turn 3 to 6 complex on their first runs, while Sutil's teammate Giancarlo Fisichella rotated on the exit of Turn 7.

The challenging Turn 8 also caught out several drivers, with Robert Kubica's BMW, David Coulthard's Red Bull, Massa and Sutil visiting the run-off area even as conditions improved.

Kovalainen held the early advantage with a 1:28.283 lap, 0.2 seconds faster than Hamilton managed initially. Ferrari took longer to get up to speed, with Massa lapping a second off the McLarens' pace at first before improving to 1:27.675.

Kovalainen soon closed to within a tenth of Massa's time, before the Brazilian improved to 1:27.323 on his final run.

Massa's teammate barely participated in the session. Raikkonen came out for three laps mid-session as the track dried, but lapped two seconds off the pace and then returned to the garage with a gearbox problem which would sideline him for the rest of the morning, leaving the world champion at the bottom of the timing screens.

Behind Massa and the McLarens, Fernando Alonso's strong form continued as he set the fourth fastest time for Renault.

It was a promising morning for Honda, with Jenson Button and record-breaker Rubens Barrichello taking fifth and eighth places, split by the impressive Nakajima and Nick Heidfeld (BMW). Renault's Nelson Piquet and Toyota's Timo Glock completed the top ten.

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time               Laps
 1.  Massa         Ferrari             (B)  1:27.323            16
 2.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:27.456  + 0.133   17
 3.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes    (B)  1:27.752  + 0.429   15
 4.  Alonso        Renault             (B)  1:28.284  + 0.961   16
 5.  Button        Honda               (B)  1:28.919  + 1.596   12
 6.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:29.002  + 1.679   19
 7.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber          (B)  1:29.024  + 1.701   21
 8.  Barrichello   Honda               (B)  1:29.068  + 1.745   11
 9.  Piquet        Renault             (B)  1:29.082  + 1.759   23
10.  Glock         Toyota              (B)  1:29.103  + 1.780   19
11.  Trulli        Toyota              (B)  1:29.329  + 2.006   24
12.  Kubica        BMW Sauber          (B)  1:29.330  + 2.007    7
13.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota     (B)  1:29.367  + 2.044   20
14.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:29.756  + 2.433   23
15.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari (B)  1:29.811  + 2.488   23
16.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:30.088  + 2.765   21
17.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault    (B)  1:30.340  + 3.017   13
18.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:30.388  + 3.065   19
19.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari  (B)  1:30.426  + 3.103   21
20.  Raikkonen     Ferrari             (B)  1:30.732  + 3.409    3

All Timing Unofficial